


Altered Light

by SomebodyisAnonymous



Category: Destiny (Video Games), Destiny 2 (Video Games)
Genre: Destiny, Destiny 2, EXO OC, Eliksni, Exo Destiny, Original Character(s), Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, The Red War (Destiny)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-27 15:59:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19794220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomebodyisAnonymous/pseuds/SomebodyisAnonymous
Summary: This story follows Zyren-8 and her Ghost, JJ, as she awakes in a foreign place far from anything friendly.





	1. Risen

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still a very new writer, so there may be errors. I try to go through and get em, but sometimes I miss 'em. Sorry; please, enjoy!

At first, it felt like waking up from a long nap, but things started to hurt very quickly. Sorta like the feeling returning to a limb that had fallen asleep, except all over the body. But then, suddenly the sky was there, mesmerizing colors stretched across the horizon. She was lying in the dirt, wind gently blowing through the grass surrounding her. “Are you gonna get up, Guardian?”

A little robot-like thing floated across her field of vision, and it stared at her. “That’s not my name.” The bot’s “shell” expanded, spun, and returned to its original position around the orb like body beneath. “Then what is your name?” She laid there, thinking, but couldn’t remember anything, her name, who she was, or what she was doing there with a baseball sized bot.

“I don’t know.” She then sat up, her body no longer waking up. The first thing she noticed was her metal hands, and then her legs, before realizing that she was in fact, all metal. She looked at the little bot that was staring at her, “What the fuck?”

The little one let out a chuckle, “That’s a fairly normal reaction, but don’t worry, I’ll help you figure it out, I’ll answer any questions you have to the best of my ability.” She stared at her hands before gently pressing her hand into the dirt, realizing that she could indeed feel the sensation.

“What am I?” The little bot bounced through the air, bobbing slightly in between words. “Well, basically, you’re an Exo. More complicated; you were a dead Exo, and now you’re not, and then to get even more fuckin complicated, you were chosen to be a Guardian for the Traveler. It’s damn hard to explain, but the simplest way to put is: a long time ago you died, and then I, your ghost, found you and by the power of light-space magic, brought you back to life; and you’re now immortal. Kinda, well technically, you can die, but I’ll just bring you back, over and over until I die. But that requires much more work.”

She was trying to pay attention, but it was quite a bit to take in. She stared at her hand, but noticed a small bunch of letters scratched into the teal metal of her thumb. She squinted, “I think that this is my name, maybe? It says ‘Zyren’ I think.” The ghost looked at her thumb as well, “It looks like it, and there also seems to be a 3 there too.” Zyren blinked, “That’s an eight, Zyren-8”

“Well looks like you remembered something. Some Guardians don’t get so lucky, so that’s something. Why don’t we get moving before the sun sets? Don’t really want to be out here at night.” Zyren got up, watching as dust poured of and out of her body, and felt naked as the old scraps of clothes that clung to her body flapped in the breeze. “Here I brought these, but I honestly didn’t think to find you so it really isn’t the best gear.” The ghost's soft voice came from nowhere, and it materialized in front of her, with a pile of stuff on the ground.

As she put on the clothes, or rather the armor, that her ghost had given her, she noticed something moving in the grass peering at her. It had four glowing blue eyes and a mohawk. “What’s that?” as she pointed to it, it fled, and her ghost sighed. “I’m pretty sure that was a Dreg, and when there’s one, there’s more. We need to get moving. We are a long way away from anything friendly.”

Zyren gave one last look to where the Dreg was, but started following her ghost none the less. The sun was setting behind some mountains, leaving them in the dark prematurely. The mountains where much taller than she had initially realized, and wondered if they would have to cross them. “Believe it or not, that’s mount Everest. And we don’t even get to climb it. What a shame.” She stared at the peak, the very tip of which was smothered by clouds. “Why can’t we climb it?” The ghost materialized in front of her again, “Because we have to get to the City!” Zyren looked incredulously, “You might, I don’t have to go anywhere. I don’t know anyone, or anything, so why do I have to go?” The ghost spun it’s shell again, “Why do I get the stubborn ass Guardian? Huh?” She ignored the ghost’s remark, and began wandering off towards the peak. “Hey, ghost. What’s your name?”

“Ghost.”

Zyren scoffed, “Really?”

“Well, technically yes, but a lot of people I hung out with before finding you called me JJ.”

“Well then your name is JJ then, not Ghost”

“Well, some of us carry the belief that we are named whatever our Guardians decide to name us”

“Well, fine, your name is JJ then. Yea?”

“Yeah.” JJ paused, “and thanks.”

“For what?” Zyren looked the little ghost, who hadn’t realized Zyren had stopped. “Some Guardians name their ghosts’ stupid things, or not at all. You picked the name I have a great fondness for.”

Zyren was just about to continue the conversation when something hit her in the back. She collapsed to the ground, a weight on her back pinning her to the ground. There was a head splitting pain, blackness, and then she was back to being pinned to the ground. “I fuckin told you that we didn’t want to be out here night. Ugh, you’ve been alive less than an hour and you got killed by a dreg. A dreg! Of all things!“

Zyren looked around to find that she was no longer outside, but rather in what looked to be a dimly lit cave. Her hands and feet were bound with a thick cloth like material, but no one was to be spotted. She snapped the cloth around her wrists easily, and untied the binds around her ankles. “I waited until they left you alone to bring you back. I thought it’d be better to be disoriented than dead over and over.” JJ spoke as she stood up, but her ghosts voice was not the only thing she heard. There was screeching, clicking, and a few grunts before she got knocked over again.

A large white mask stared at her face to face, 4 glowing eyes surrounded by leather looking skin peering through its holes. It was different from the dreg that she had see before. It had 4 arms and a purple cloak that draped down of its back and unto the dirt next to it. It hissed and gurgled, “Karhdian… yeeaaasss?” It let loose a bunch of clicking noises as it smushed its face closer. “Gar-dee-an? Yeeeesssss?” She nodded, and it hissed, before dragging her through the dirt while several other creatures hollered somewhere unseen.

She was dropped in a well-lit section of wet rock and dirt, and saw another set of 4 eyes staring at her from the ceiling. A large body dropped from the shadows and it’s the landing was accompanied with a puff of dirt and a large thud. The creature was much bigger than the one that had brought her to this spot, with a more ornate helmet and cloak. It stared at her for a minute before coming closer and kneeling. It gave out kind of a barking noise before a gravelly voice spoke. “Where are your team? Where are weapons? Why here?”

Zyren gaped silently at the large creature but before she could answer any questions, JJ materialized in front of the things face. “I just found her, there are no others. It’s just her. Now fuck off and let us go.” The large Dreg snatched JJ out of the air, but she disappeared from its hand, reappearing next to Zyren. They didn’t take kindly to this, and grabbed Zyren by the collar, “Where weapons?” Zyren wiggled, but to no avail. “I don’t have anything; I don’t even know where I’m at! I just figured out my name like an hour ago.” It stared blankly before speaking again. “Name?” The “m” sounded forced, and she realized that it not known the meaning of her words. “You know, the thing your called?” It dropped her, and stood to its full height, at least above 6 feet.

“My name is Teknas. We are the Eliksni of House of Dusk.” Teknas gestured to the seemingly empty cave, but Zyren then realized that several glints were actually eyes, glowing in the distance. “Well, I’m Zyren-8. I was apparently dead an hour or two ago.” Teknas shifted their eyes down at her, “Syrin-ate. Will remain here… You will not show us to othersss.” With that, Teknas turned away from her, disappearing into the shadow. JJ appeared, and spun her shell looking where Teknas had once stood before turning and talking to Zyren. “Well. That’s great news. Turns out we aren’t going to the city, Mount Everest, or anywhere else. We get to stay here. In a cave. With at least one captain, and probably a hundred or so Vandals and Dregs.”

Zyren watched as one of the 4 armed ones came to the edge of the light, throwing rocks at her. “Is that what they’re called?” JJ “hissed” at it, and it clicked at her in return before scampering away, and JJ returned to Zyren. “The 4-armed small ones are Vandals, the large one, Teknas, is a captain. Of course, they have their own names for these ranks, but we don’t know them, so we made our own. We call them “the fallen,” but they call themselves Eliksni. They divide themselves into clans, or “houses” and have a caste system in each one.”

JJ flew to the side of Zyren’s heads and computer script showed up in the corner of Zyren’s vision. “I modified your optic systems to work as a HUD since you don’t have a helmet to do the job for you. It’ll label things for you, and allow you to identify everything that I’ve seen. I haven’t seen much, but I know enough descriptions to label the things I haven’t seen when we do see them. If that makes sense.” JJ came around front of Zyren’s vision again, and a Vandal snatched at her from the shadows. Once again, she disappeared from its hand, just like she had done to the Captain, but instead did not reappear.

The Vandal crept closer, slowly, as I fit were afraid of her. In a set of hands, it had more of the cloth material that was used to bind her before, and she realized what it was trying to do. She slowly raised her hands, and brought them together in front of her. The Vandal held still for a bit, before quickly tying her wrists and running away back into the shadows.

Shortly after, the light turned off, leaving her in the dark, save for the small glow her bio-lights offered. She noticed several eyes that had been there before where now gone, but there where still a few of them blinking around in the dark, and at least one set was always looking at her. Zyren stared off into the dark for some time before slipping off into sleep.

When she woke, she was startled by the Captain standing directly in front of her. “You… slept?” Zyren nodded and Teknas squinted at her. “You are not like others… “. They knelt down and sniffed at her, but didn’t do anything else. Zyren took this opportunity to inspect the Captain, and noticed that they had rather large blades attached to the second set of hands, and not just one large claw.

She must have been staring, because Teknas brought it closer. Zyren looked between their eyes and the claw, before reaching out and touching it. As she touched it, the clicking grew louder, and eventually they snatched it away, scratching the metal of Zyren’s hand. Teknas barked something in its language, and a Dreg came over and guided Zyren towards what seemed to be a makeshift cell. As the Dreg chittered away at a small robot, which was labeled as a “shank,” Zyren noticed the captain staring at her.

* * *

\--The guardian did not seem hostile, but rather curious of everything. Maybe it had been telling the truth when it said it didn’t know anything. But either way, Teknas could not allow them to go and risk them returning to murder them all. Teknas ordered a cell to be made, so that they wouldn’t see anything more than what they had already. If it truly knew nothing, then it would not look for their Servitor. It needed to be protected from any and all threats, or they would not make It back to the Ketch.

Teknas was curious about this guardian, and they were just as curious as her. She approached it while it slept, studying its metallic body. She had heard of these robotic designs before, they were called “Exo’s” but Teknas had never seen one herself. At least from what she knew. It woke up, and blinked rapidly at her, before it continued to look at the rest of her. Teknas followed its gaze to her hand, and brought it forward to show them.

It cautiously reached out and touched it, and Teknas was off-put by its willingness to touch her. She murmured to herself at feeling the metal hand. She snapped out of it when she looked back at the Guardian. She barked orders out, knowing that even if newly awakened, the Guardian was still a threat. She watched as a Dreg tugged the Guardian over to the cage they made, before returning her attention to directing the rest of the group. --

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might get some stuff a little wrong lore wise, but because there isn't an exact format to follow, I'm writing this up to my interpretation of things. Thanks for reading!


	2. Different

As time passed, Zyren made conversation between the Dreg that watched her, and with the help of JJ, taught it some things. Mostly English, as that was what Zyren remembered most of, and the Dreg seemed to take to this kindly. They would walk around the cave, not very far, and they would take turns speaking each other’s language.

Well, Zyren wasn’t actually speaking, she, with the help of JJ, would clip together some of the sounds in order to replicate the noise the Dreg would remake. The only thing was, it would go silent when a Vandal or Marauder would pass by. For a long time, the Marauders wouldn’t show themselves to her, but they stopped caring when she started walking with the Dreg.

According to JJ, they had been in this Fallen cave for about a month, but no longer seemed to be concerned about getting to the City. In fact, she seemed enthralled by learning about the Eliksni, and would ask questions as soon as she thought of them. She often would wander off pestering some poor Vandal with a million questions. They seemed to enjoy it, and she would often join them in taunting Zyren when she couldn’t climb to the nets that hung were suspended from the cave’s ceiling. The Captain would watch these events from a distance, still very suspicious of Zyren. It was only when Zyren fell from at least 10 feet that Teknas decided to help.

As Zyren was dusting off, her hand was grabbed, and Teknas barked something to the Vandals above her. They scattered, but quickly reappeared, brandishing different materials. The Captain drug Zyren by her hand underneath a spotlight, inspecting the metal of her hand. At first Zyren thought it was going to fix the scratch it had made all that time ago, but instead they thrusted it towards the Vandals. They immediately swarmed over it, JJ watching what they were doing from above. At first, she felt pain as the took apart pieces of her hand, but disregarded it, seeing as JJ wasn’t throwing a fit about it. After a few minutes, they demanded her other hand, and started messing with it too.

JJ watched their handiwork, occasionally clicking and grunting with her input. Eventually they finished and Zyren inspected her hands. They were mostly the same, but her fingers were different in a way she could quite grasp. She wiggles them, and Vandals started clicking and flexing their hands at her. JJ interpreted. “They want you to flex your hands more less. Make a fist and then let it go.”

Zyren did just that, and watched as sharp pointed claws came from her fingers, making two large conjoined-fingers. Taking into account her thumb, they effectively made her hands change into Eliksni claws. She tapped the sharp metal against the ground, and dug into it. The plates that made the claws were securely attached. It was almost seamless except for the mismatching metal. “If you make a fist again, they’ll disappear and you’ll have all 5 fingers again.”

The Vandals scattered, some returning to work somewhere, and a few climbed the wall and chittered at he from the perches in the nets. Zyren bared the claws they built in her other hand, and found it much easier to climb the wall, although still very much a workout. When she got to the nets, she swung herself over, and peered through the holes down to the cave floor. Teknas was looking up at her, one set of arms folded in front of themselves. Without thinking Zyren waved, and was immediately embarrassed by the motion. The Captain did nothing in return, but instead returned to directing some Vandals to do some unseen task.

That night, something happened. Zyren woke to the cry of a Dreg. It wasn’t a yell, but rather a shrill screech that sent the rest of the cave in a tizzy. They scrambled for weapons, the Captain drawing their swords. Zyren climbed from her net that was suspended in her cell just in time to see a flash of green eyes appear in the darkness from the depth of the cave. Several blood curdling screams sounded, and JJ swore, “It’s the fucking hive, we need to leave, now!”

Instead, Zyren hurdled over crates and landed in front of Teknas, claws bared. “Ugh! Of course, you want to fight!” JJ yelled over the shrieks and cries. In a span of a few seconds the most of the Shanks and Dregs where killed or driven back. Something seemingly sparked in Zyren, and electricity sparked at her finger tips, electrifying her claws.

Several disgusting faceless things came screeching at her, large claws made of what seemed to be rotting flesh. As the first reached her, she brought a fist down through the thing’s skull, smashing through to the next one. She wasn’t able to keep them all off of her, and felt them slashing through her cheap armor. She felt that same spark from before, and watched as a shock travelled between the things, or Thralls, as her HUD said. They were obviously cannon fodder, but she could see how a good amount of them would be overwhelming. As she was locked in combat with a group of Thralls, Vandals and Marauders helped pick of stragglers as others worked to clear the cave of essentials.

When the thralls finally stopped streaming in, she saw the flash of green eyes from before. The word “Acolyte” flashed and disappeared just as quick in the darkness of the cave. “There’s more! I need light!” Whether it was an Eliksni or JJ, the spotlight in the main are of the cave tilted, revealing at least 5 of these Acolytes. Zyren charged in, baring her fists down on the closest one, before jumping over the next one and dispatching it just as quick. Their faces offered more resistance than the thralls, and one of her fists got stuck in the whatever the thing was made of.

She pulled, but to no avail, and noticed a much larger being behind the remaining Acolytes, getting ready to shoot her. She turned her head to the Captain, who was directing the rest of the Eliksni, “RUN!”. She screamed at the top of her lungs, getting Teknas attention, who then barked several things, and several Eliksni disappeared away from the conflict. A handful of Marauders and Vandals remained, accompanied by at least 10 Dregs and the Captain.

The big one, the Knight, growled and fired its weapon, a large crystal-like round found its home in the dirt behind Zyren. The resounding explosion knocked her off of the dead Acolyte, and into a fallen crate. Her ears were ringing and her vision blurred, but Zyren managed to snap to and snatch an Eliksni weapon from a dead Vandal. She brought the weapon to bare, shooting at the Acolytes, trying to make sure nothing got past her.

The Knight, its attention now on her again, fired three more of its projectiles. Zyren leapt, clearing the distance between her and her enemies in under a second. As she landed, she made sure to plant a foot into an Acolyte head. It crumpled beneath her, and she turned her attention to the remaining two. While she had hoped to keep the Knight’s attention, it went after what it thought was the bigger threat.

Teknas fired repeatedly into the knight, and it faltered. Before it fell, it brought up a flicking shield that blocked the captain’s shots. Teknas closed the distance, switching their sabers into their top, main hands. As Zyren finished beating the last Acolyte, she saw the Knight drop the shield and land a solid punch against the Eliksni. As the Knight brought it’s weapon up, Zyren jumped, blocking the shot against Teknas, but made the world fade to black. Suddenly, she was on the ground, and JJ was over her, shouting “Get up, Guardian!”

Zyren rolled to her side, to see Teknas and the Knight fight in close combat. Zyren stood, and watched as Teknas caught the Knights weapon in their blades. Zyren felt for that spark, and it materialized on her fingertips again, and she leapt onto the Knight’s back, tearing into its mass with her claws. It roared in horrible voice, and in its distraction, Teknas dropped their guard and stabbed a Saber through the Knights head.

It crumbled like the rest had, whatever their material was now coated the floor, and both Zyren and Teknas stood breathless amongst it. “Syrin-ate…” The captain didn’t continue its statement, but rather gestured for her to follow. They walked through the now empty cave, the nets and crates gone from their previous perches. When they reached the entrance, the sun was rising, and the breeze felt foreign to Zyren. She closed her eyes and enjoyed it for a brief moment, until Teknas nudged her. She watched as the Captain climbed the rock face above the cave entrance.

They disappeared over the overhang, did not reappear once over. As Zyren began to climb, she started to struggle, unable to get footholds, leaving her dragging herself with just her arms. Her arms were screaming and there was no way she would be able to climb the overhang. “You would think whoever made me would build a robot with enough strength to do something as mundane as climbing.” She grunted and noticed JJ hovering next to her. “Well to be fair, you seem to be a different model than the others I’ve seen. You're much smoother than other Bray models. If you are a Bray Exo anyways.”

Zyren shoved her foot onto a small ledge, but it crumbled under her weight. “God- fuck!” She was left dangling, unable to reach the next part of the overhang. “You said Bray? You think they made me?” She tried to look at the ghost, but she was nowhere to be found. “JJ?” Zyren waited for a response, but merely got silence in return. She was about to call again when heard dirt falling, only to have dirt falling onto her face. She shook it off, much to the complaints of her arms, and saw that Teknas had returned, and was offering a hand.

Zyren dislodged a claw and swung herself up. Teknas caught her arm, but neither of them had accounted for her other hand to break free. Suddenly, Zyren’s full weight was completely dependent on her one arm. Teknas faltered, they used two arms to balanced themselves on the edge, and grabbed Zyren’s arm with the other two. As Teknas lifted her, Zyren groaned, the joints of her arm all screaming in unison. As the Captain dragged her onto the overhang, JJ scanned her. “It seems that you dislocated the loadbearing joints. I’ve never seen it happen, but I have heard of it.”

Zyren looked at her arm, the normally smooth metal now looked almost like frayed rope. “Can you fix it?” The little ghost shook her “head”, “I don’t work like that. I can promote healing, but I can’t fully restore something that’s too far gone. When you die though, its different. It’s like I can just bring all of you back. I don’t fucking know ho it works, really. Space magic that we call the Light. You know.”

Zyren chuckled, but then thought for a moment. Wordlessly she drew her claws and stabbed herself in the neck. JJ groaned, “Why? You’re such a dumbass.” Teknas withdrew, quite baffled, but when JJ revived Zyren, they seemed to understand. They clicked at her, before stating “A warning, next time.” Zyren clicked in return, “ _My bad.”_ Tekans got up from their position on the ledge, walking towards the rest of the group when Zyren spotted something.

A giant purple orb was floating above a group of Dregs. It made some bizarre deep grunting sound, except distinctly computer generated. It had the title “Servitor” over it, but she was still greatly confused as to what it was. The group moved, no one regarding her, or the Servitor. She would've been behind them if it wasn't for Teknas nudging her forward.

* * *

\--Teknas hadn’t considered for the Hive to be further in the cave. The scouts had gone deep, and found nothing, it had taken weeks for their return. Perhaps there was more, or maybe the hive had broken through. Either way, the Dregs dying screech alerted them to have enough time to get them out. Everyone worked as they had planned, and evacuation was much easier with the threat in the cave, than the entrance.

Then you joined the fight. Or rather leapt in front of it. Before Teknas could drag them away, they launched themselves forward into the crowd of thralls. They became focused on them, which left the Vandals to pick off stragglers. At one point, she watched as the Thralls simply vanished, and noticed electricity running through the Guardians hands. When they yelled for more light, and before realizing it, Teknas snatched a light that had been affixed to the wall.

The light revealed several Acolytes, and as Teknas was about to order the Vandals to fire, the guardian launched themselves into the fight. At first, when they had yelled at them to run, Teknas was unsure why, until she spotted the Knight. She sent others to clear the cave and protect the Servitor, and kept a small force to aid the skirmish.

Teknas watched as the Guardian, Syrin-ate, launched themselves in front of Teknas, taking a round that crushed their body. As they crumpled to the ground, Teknas had to push her surprise to the side and take on the Knight that was closing in. It was taking rounds form the remaining Vandals, but it was focused on her. She caught its gun between her Sabers, but if she faltered, she wouldn’t live to tell about it. Suddenly the Knight howled, and dissipated into flakes, revealing Syrin-ate behind it.

As they left the cave, Teknas tried to pronounce their name correctly as she tried to thank them, but failed. Instead she walked silently next to them as they left the cave that had called home for months. The Guardian stood, eyes closed, and Teknas realized this had been first time they had been outside since they took her. She let her stay for a moment, before grabbing her attention and climbing the wall.

She waited at the ledge for her to finish, but was surprised to see the little light showing up before her. “She needs help, she doesn’t have the extra arms or any extra loadbearing joints on her. She’s got normal human strength, and she won’t get tired, but there is only so much her joints can take before breaking.”

Teknas went over the ridge and found Syrin-ate dangling there. She caught her arm, but stumbled at her full weight. It was easily counteracted, and she brought them up to the ridge. She watched as her and her Little Light conversed, and backed away as the Guardian killed herself. Teknas realized why, and chittered at her. “A warning, next time.” When the guardian replied in High Speak, Teknas refrained from reacting. This one was definitely different than the others. --


End file.
